Whiting Trail Conditions

I would start at Wahoos and go into the backside, up Lineshack (to avoid the Singletrack that could be crowded). Follow the fire road and go up either Dreaded or Whiting Road to 4 Corners and over to the street (Santiago Canyon). Left on Modjeksa to STT and down the Luge. You can go back through Edison trail or go right at Cooks and over to the Stables to finish through Cactus, Sleepy Hollow and back to Wahoos.

 

Ok I'm a bit late to the conversation but this is the STT/Luge/Whiting combo that I have been using lately:

Park at Cooks and do the typical STT-Luge ride.
Go back up towards Modjeska Grade. Just past it on Santiago Canyon is the other entrance to Whiting (Whiting Spur Rd) which you can take to Four Corners.
From Four Corners take Cactus to Santiago Ranch to Sage Scrub to Serrano but make a left at the bottom (Vulture) which will take you to the Glenn Ranch parking lot for Whiting.
Take a left on Glenn Ranch Rd, Left on El Toro and you're back at Cooks.
About 15 miles. Enjoy!!

 

Whiting Ranch Borrego Assessment and Update

Jim aka Kioti and I have been in contact with Ev, Sean and Romero, the Rangers in Whiting about the conditions, the amount of work it would take and when Borrego and the main entrance would open. In an email, Ev Mena who is the current head ranger in Whiting told me that they have worked on it with the OCCC crews and filled in all of the damages done by the big storm.

So with permission from Ev, Jim and I meet this morning to assess Borrego and check out the work that was done.

What you will see next is not pretty. The entrance is still blocked by mud and water


For now they opened a section just to the left of the gate until a more permanent solution can be done.

Looking back at the new entrance here:


So much water has washed into the trail that it wiped out a good portion of the trail only to leave sand covering sections as long as 50 yards. #-oWhat was only a small sections that was about 25-30ft where it was so sandy that it was tough to pedal through at times, that same type of sand covers much of Borrego now.



You could see how much sand is actually covering the trail now.


Even with the amount of rains we've had, you can see how deep it is. Can you imagine what this will be like in July?


Just to give you an idea, Jim is standing where the trail used to be and all around him is sand!


Here Jim is pointing where a bridge used to be.


As you come farther in, some of the work by the OCCC crews is evident. If it looks wide, that's because it is. Really not sure why they took the trail so wide.


This is where the sandy crossing was. The raging water washed away the banks and it's become quite open.



The homes along the trail still have the protection up so the slopes don't erode. The amount of sand is endless.



Here is another section that's been widened. :?:


The bridge was tilted, but is now back in place.


The OCCC used dirt off the sides to fill ruts causing the trail to get wider.


This section was always kinda of sandy, but rocks will need to be cleared a bit to establish a clear trail which won't take much effort.

 

Here is the section that had a little up after making a right then left just before you get up a small up




Another re-route that the crews did. The old trail was to Jim's right. We'll work on this more so it is much more stable and apparent.


As you can see, the water took much of the tread with it. This area won't take long to fix.


Hopefully we can convince the park to allow us to put a new trail up away from the creek. We'll have to wait and see.


When you come to this section, it's just one sandy long creek bed.


We will try and convince the park to build a new trail just to the right of the tree there so it is not in the creek bed


Here's a re-route they did. The old trail went through the trees. There's storm debris blocking it now, but Jim and I will try and re-establish it.


Looking back at it from the other side.


We linked up with Romero at the start of Mustard. He was working with the OCCC crews to get Mustard ready to re-open. As you can see, it's still need lots of work.


Cattle Pond took some damage as well, but Jim has already gone in and did some work.


Much different than when we did the work back before the storms.


I received another email from Ev today and he is hoping to re-open Borrego by as early as tomorrow afternoon. Please check with the OC Parks website before you go.

All in all, you'll find it's not in the best shape, but given Borrego was built in a creek bed, it was bound to happen. In time we will try and get the trail moved out of the creek bed and up on higher ground so when it rains, the water, rocks, debris and sand will stay in the creek and not effect the trail as it did. This will take time to convince the new ranger as Ev is leaving and there will be a new ranger assigned.

 

Borrego's always been a fun and challenging way to get into the park, so I was really sorry to see this much damage to it. As Gene said, running a trail up the bottom of a wash was asking for trouble, and last December's storms delivered.

Much of the old trail in intact, but long stretches are buried in sand. Other areas washed away or got buried. We'll clean up what we can and reroute any problem spots we can get permission to. But at least in the near future, its going to be a HAB in the sandy areas.

The grading on lower Mustard hasn't been finished yet, but the OCCC crew is cleaning up the washed out area to make it more rideable. Cattle Pond was a little thrashed, but I spent a fair amount of time over the last couple weeks tuning it up, and its pretty fun now.

We'll probably be working on Borrego in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for some trailwork days and please come out and help us put it back together.

 

Wow, thanks so much for the Borrego pictures. I ride Whiting a couple times a week from the house, so I've been dying to see what shape it's in.

... and boy am I disappointed.

There was just enough sand there before to be annoying but challenging, and imo the rest of the "climb" made up for it. I love the canopy and ups and downs.

But I'll continue to ride past the entrance to the Wahoo's entrance I think, that sand looks awful and will only get much, much worse. I'll bet even the hikers will stay away. As you guys said, maybe this was inevitable. Thanks for the work done and in the future.

 

thanks for the updates and pix guys.

i wonder if some northshore style treatment would be a good call?

 

They put water bars there? WTH?? I'm no pro trail builder, but I can't see why that road would need anything other than being graded with an appropriate outslope. :-k

That's some real irony there. Don't ride it so you can ride it, but if you do ride it, then they're not going to let you ride it! :?:

Post your poaching for all to see. Priceless.

Gene & Jim - thanks for the recon and all the hard work in Whiting. I totally agree that at the very least they need to take a serious look at a permanent change to the Borrego entrance, which is at just about the lowest point in the canyon! Some sections of that canyon are so steep and narrow that parts of the trail will probably have to stay in the creek bed, but there definitely seems to be an opportunity to move portions of it.

I'm just about healthy enough again to use a shovel, so hit me up for some trail work. I'd like to contribute if I can.

 

Wow dude......there's just soooo much sand!!!

 

Thats a great idea! And since everything in a wilderness park is supposed to be natural, we could use OAK!

I think dirt roads usually get "in-sloped" so vehicles won't slide over the edge (in wet conditions). I've seen graders throw in outsloped sections to spill water, then protect vehicles with a berm with a drain in it. I just about killed myself on some giant water bars recently that weren't designed for bikes, but I've got a friend who just loves going up an otherwise unpleasant dirt road so he can launch off all the water bars on the way down. :lol:

The entrance to Borrego IS a problem, and their first step was to try to dig out the gate. But the whole thing turned into a swimming pool when they started excavating.. At this point, I think I'd use a torch and cut off the fence posts, then dump a bunch of dirt there and start over. Either that or just move the entrance uphill.

Glad you're feeling better and we'll take you up on your trailwork offer. And you're right, there are a lot of steep canyon walls in there, but we'll push for getting the trail out of the streambed wherever terrain and Rangers allow.

 

Wow... My first mtb ride was on Whiting 4th of July weekend last year and it's painful to see it like this. Thanks a lot for the update and thanks even more for your efforts out there. I ride with about 5 or 6 guys every Sunday and it wouldn't take much convincing by me to get us out there to help. Please keep us posted on any volunteer opportunities.

 

Got Pugsley?

 

No Pugsley..........need to practice spinning at 120 rpm.

 

One thing that might help beat the trail back in would be to reverse direction for a couple of months so riders could ride DH through the sand until the trail gets re-established.

Before Whiting was a park, the usual direction of travel was down Borrego.

 

Update on Borrego

I've emailed Lorrie who is the senior ranger at O'Neill park. She informed me that she hiked it with Ev on Tues and agrees with our assessment. Ken from SHARE also went in with Ev last week to assess the damage.

Ken and I have worked with Lorrie at O'Neill and she is great to work with and has agreed to meet with me next Wed to take a look at the solution to the sand issue and possible re-routes.

Hopefully Jim and Ken will be available to join us.

 

I'm ready to take the Borrego Challenge!

 

I'll be there.

 

Current Whiting Trail Conditions(Last update: 06-13-11)

Looks like Borrego's open today. Might be fun to check it out and see the damage first-hand. Last night's rain might make some of the sand more manageable, too.

Plus, there's the reworked Cattle Pond to enjoy, and the ever popular Mustard.

 

Today Jim, OMR and I lead a group of workers from some company out for nature and trail work experience. The plan was to us to guide this group because none of them had any trail work experience. We met up at the Santiago Equestrian Center. Ranger Sean, grounds keepers Romero and Melissa were there to have routine volunteer sign ins, safety brief and issue tools.

Once the ranger briefed everyone that this is a wilderness area and that there are snakes, ticks, mountain lions.., etc and Jim briefed everyone was going to done and some safety reminders we hiked in.

Here's Jim and OMR walking the area we will be re-routing.



The plan was to create a series of turns. Here Jim starts the mark off the new section.


Ground keeps Romero and Melissa guided this group further down trail to remove some invasive thistle that's growing wild here. The group removed over 6 garbage bags of that stuff!


OMR and I started with shaping the 1st and 2nd turns





Jim worked a bit lower into the turn that was already there, but marking where it would be bermed.


Then Jim and OMR worked on closing off the original section and started a turn just prior. You can see the old trail to the right off the tools.


OMR worked on the next series of turns while I continued to shape the top section. They cleared up quite a bit here so instead of a section with 1 left hand turn, you would turn left, then right, then left again before re-joining the trail.


Here's the 1st section after some work. You can see the old trail as we blocked it off with branches







Once you turn into the new section, you will see that another left hand turn.


Coming off the left hander and going into a sweeping right hand turn and back onto the existing trail


We had Gary shape the inside of this turn. Romero will bring in more dirt cause we'll need to build up this turn a bit more.


Here is the new left hander. You can see that we blocked off the original trail and built up the berm a bit more.


Setting up for the right hander here.


Here's the right hander. I moved it more to the outside and took off more of the inside, but you get the idea.


Setting up for the final turn


Going into the last turn before heading onto the original trail.


A full look of the last turn before joining the original trail.


It didn't take long after we re-opened the section that the 1st several riders got to try it out. From what they said, they really liked the new cuts.


It'll be tweaked as time goes by and it gets some traffic on it, but for now it's completely rideable and very fun and flowy.

So get out there, give it a try and let us know what you think.

 

Thanks for posting the photos and for all your hard work today, Gene. And thanks, OMR, for giving up your Old Camp ride today to make this happen. :clap:

This trailwork day was requested by a company, and the Rangers asked for our help. The original goal was to clean up Sleepy Hollow trail, and I suggested a combination of tread work and habitat restoration. I showed Ramiro what I had in mind and he was agreeable to it.

We split into groups and worked the whole length of the trail. The company volunteers pulled out invasive species, helped return old trail sections to Nature, and collected rocks for our berms. Gene, OMR, Gary and I built the new turns.